Night of the Fourth.--Extreme Solicitude at the White
House.--Description of an Eye-witness.--Attorney McVeagh's
Remark.--Sudden Change for the Better.--Steady
Improvement.--The Medical Attendance.
The night of the Fourth was a time of extreme solicitude at the White
House. Said one who was present:--
"I sat in the great East Room with the Attorney-General.--
"'Ah,' he exclaimed, 'our Garfield was never a better President than he
was at the moment when Guiteau's bullet struck him down. He never saw
more clearly, and he never had a firmer or better purpose. He was going
to be all that the best thought of the country ever expected of him. He
was going to be a great President.'
"The last time I had been in this East Room was at Mr. Hayes' last
diplomatic reception, when thousands of elegantly dressed people
thronged it, and music and lights made it, for that evening at least,
the handsomest room in the country. There were no lights now. The great
spaces were gloomy with what seemed to be the gloom of coming death.
Through the open windows on the south side the summer air stole lazily,
and the shadows of the draperies seemed to add to the darkness. There
was no music now--only the sound of whispered conversation as people
went up or down the stairs. The result of the early evening consultation
was unfavorable. Tympanites had again appeared, and apparently in a more
threatening form than before. Grave men shook their heads. Even the
brave Mrs. Garfield lost somewhat of the splendid courage that had
sustained her throughout her trying ordeal. For the first time after his
recovery from the shock of the bullet, the President seemed to lose hope
himself.
"Suddenly there was a change for the better. Toward midnight, the
troubled slumbers of the President became peaceful, and he soon sank
into the best sleep he had enjoyed since the shooting on Saturday
morning. His pulse and temperature became better; there were signs of an
improved vitality; the breathing was easier; the pains ceased; there was
no longer any appearance of dangerous inflammation or of peritonitis.
Hope began to dawn where despondency had been; the faces that had been
full of gloom began to look hopeful; there was yet some encouragement.
Recovery flung out her signals in the steady breathings and the peaceful
slumber of the President. The improvement continued, and again it could
be said that there was hope of final recovery. It seemed as though the
strong will and constitution of the man had made one more effort for
life."
The cheering bulletins on the following morning kindled fresh hope in
the hearts of the people. The general feeling was expressed that the
worst was over, and the nation began to take courage. By the ninth of
July the President was so much better, that his children were allowed to
come into the room. On the 13th, it was reported that his appetite was
improving, that he had asked for a steak, and sandwiches of bread and
scraped raw beef had been given him. This increase in the variety of his
food seemed to give him additional strength, and the condition of the
wound was so favorable that it was thought the ball had become encysted.
The first physician who reached the President when he lay wounded at the
depot, was Dr. Smith Townshend, Health Officer of the District of
Columbia. As soon as he examined the wound, he pronounced it necessarily
fatal. Immediately after the shooting, the Secretary of War, according
to the President's wishes, had summoned Dr. Bliss, who with other
physicians reached the depot soon after Dr. Townshend.
"On the following Sunday morning," says Dr. Bliss, "when the President
had fully reacted, had had several hours of rest, was cheerful and
competent to attend to any ordinary business, I presented the matter of
his professional attendance to him, Mrs. Garfield being present. I then
explained to him fully, the valuable professional assistance the large
number of medical gentlemen had rendered up to that time, representing,
as they did, the best medical talent in the city. His reply was,--
"'Of course, doctor, it will not do to continue the large number of
medical gentlemen in attendance; such a number of surgeons would be
cumbersome and unwieldy.'
"I said then: 'Mr. President, it is your duty to select your medical
attendants now.'
"He replied: 'I desire you to take charge of my case. I know of your
experience and skill, and have full confidence in your judgment, and
wish you to thank the doctors individually for their kind attendance.' I
thanked him, and replied that it would be necessary to select three or
four medical assistants as counsel in the case. He replied,--
"'I shall leave that entirely with you; you know what talent you
require, and your judgment is best upon that point.' I then selected in
order the gentlemen who were immediately associated in the case,
Surgeon-General J. K. Barnes, of the army; and Doctors J. J. Woodward
and Robert Reyburn, stating in each instance the reason for so doing. He
said that was eminently satisfactory to him. I then turned to Mrs.
Garfield and said,--
"'If you desire to add one or more to the number selected, I shall be
happy to unite them to our counsel.' Her reply was,--'I would not add
one to the number you have selected, and I want to say to you, doctor,
that you shall not be embarrassed in any way in your future treatment of
this case.' Neither the President nor Mrs. Garfield, nor any member of
the household from that time forward, suggested the name of any other
physician except the eminent counsel called from Philadelphia and New
York, Doctors Agnew and Hamilton." The last-mentioned physicians arrived
on Monday morning, and in the consultation that followed they expressed
their hearty approval of the treatment adopted. While so much
uncertainty remained as to the exact location of the ball, it was folly
to risk the President's life in an attempt to remove it.